About

When it comes to helping you break up with takeout and create a love affair with simple + flavorful + energizing whole foods, I’m your millionaire matchmaker.

I work with people who love good food but also want to feel their personal healthiest. If you are bold, busy, curious, concerned about our community and environment, AND you love a good laugh...oh boy. We’ll get along great.

• I’ve been in business for 10 years helping people change their diets for good.

• I professionally trained in health-supportive cooking (nutrition + good food + meticulous hand washing) at the Natural Gourmet Institute of Health and Culinary Arts in New York City.

• I like to learn from the source, whether that’s learning about balance and holistic remedies by working at Ananda in the Himalayas, an Ayurvedic spa in India, or learning about sustainable farming by working with draft horses at Sterling College in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. (I’ll wait here while you Google. Drool. Repeat.)

• I’ve hustled in Michelin-starred restaurants, prepared meals for movie stars, and was named Healthy Cook of the Year in 2010 by Cooking Light magazine. But what I’m most passionate about? Making seasonal vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, nuts, and seeds and quality animal products fun, fast and nourishing to everyday singles and couples. My goal is to give you the knowledge to walk into the grocery store and be able to create a simple, fast meal without a recipe, a laundry list of ingredients or an impending panic attack.

• My clients have often just encountered a hiccup in life when I meet them—sometimes it’s a little one like a stressful season at work or sometimes it’s big and scary like a late stage cancer diagnosis. One “diet” (do you hate that word too?) is not right for everyone and we work together to find the right foods for you and—more importantly—come up with a plan on how to execute, even when life throws hiccup after hiccup.

Often my clients say, "I more or less know what to eat, but actually doing it? That’s a whole different story!"

• My clients regularly meet their health goals, whether that’s sleeping more and having more energy after having a baby or saving money because they aren’t throwing away unused produce.

• I like to walk my talk. Living my own life with a focus on health and wellness is important to me. Although, uh, my version of balance involves less meditation and inner smiles and more snorting while laughing, Bollywood dancing, and 30 Rock binging.

I spend most of my day thinking about how I can get you to eat one more vegetable.(Usually the answer is “roast it.”)

• Oh yeah. And I love to talk about good food too. I'm the host and creator of Nightcap, a late night-style web series on good food and beverage. I invite chefs, bartenders, farmers and more to have a drink with me in front of a live audience, talk about their craft, play games aaaand do the occasional shot of Malort. I’ve also been a guest host on Chicago’s Best on WGN.

• Although I typically work with busy singles and couples, I do love kids. (If you are ever looking for honest feedback about your cooking—or really anything—please ask a 7-year-old.) What fuels me? Working to make healthy eating accessible to ALL. I volunteer regularly through organizations like Purple Asparagus, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Chicago Cares.

And now for something completely different.

1. My favorite food is bread. Yes, a wellness chef’s Voldemort.  If I eat bread all day, everyday I don't feel great, but if I eat a slice of a dark crusty sourdough once in a while along with protein-rich foods and lots of vegetables…I feel divine.

2. I’m a self-help book junkie. I’m currently reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and realizing that I LOVE reading about cleaning and organizing. Much more than I enjoy actually doing it. (Alia tiptoes backwards out of the room.)

3. I dream of having a micropig or chihuahua or BOTH.